Refreshed After A Mud Slinging
by Chinesemoon
Summary: Neville Longbottom feels alone in the world. Will he find someone to talk to when a looney girl takes an interest in him?


Refreshed After a Mud Slinging By Chinesemoon  
  
A/N: This fic is dedicated to my little sister, Katie. Please review everyone! Thank you.  
  
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Sorta, kinda.  
  
All day staring at the ceiling  
  
Making friends with shadows on my wall  
  
All night hearing voices telling me  
  
That I should get some sleep  
  
Because tomorrow might be good for something  
  
He was tired. He seemed to always be tired these days. What was the point? What the bloody hell was the point? Why was it so hard for him to face the fact that he was alone? He was unloved, friendless, and pitiful. That's what he was, and that's what he'd always be. At least, that's what people told him.  
  
Yes, he was nobody.  
  
He'd taken quite a fancy, ever since he'd been very young, to talk to his pet toad. Trevor was the closest he would ever get to having a friend. Trevor listened to his complaints and his sorrows, and Trevor didn't ignore him – only tried to run away every few minutes.  
  
What was he kidding? It was pathetic! He was pathetic!  
  
Hold on  
  
Feeling like I'm headed for a breakdown  
  
And I don't know why  
  
Every year at Hogwarts was the same. The same endless teasing, the same evil bane in existence, the same dull grades, the same bottomless pit called his future. The same everything in his miserable life.  
  
He got on the train this year, facing his final year in Wizarding School. His grades weren't great, but they were good enough for a descent job somewhere. He had no idea who would hire a worthless almost-a-Squib of a Wizard boy, green out of Hogwarts, with no place to go. He pitied that person almost as much as he pitied himself.  
  
He almost never got to escape. He had to though. Sometimes, he had to leave his dull, cruel reality and plunge into that world of the lonely. He had to visit that empty corner of his mind, where nothing else mattered. Nothing but getting away from everyone else.  
  
Rain. God, what a sensation to him. It was cool, it was refreshing, and it was one of the few things that Neville Longbottom welcomed. That's where he was, and that's where he stood on that dark, afternoon in September. Outside the Castle, outside the world, and into the other world; the world no one talked about.  
  
As the cool rain soaked him, he thought. He wanted to show the world his real self. He wanted to show what he really was, not what he hid in.  
  
But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell  
  
I know right now you can't tell  
  
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see  
  
A different side of me  
  
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired  
  
I know right now you don't care  
  
But soon enough you're gonna think of me  
  
And how I used to be...me  
  
Neville tilted his head up to the darkened sky. He felt like shouting, he felt like screaming! When would the world stop being his enemy? When would he become normal?  
  
"Why do I have to be such a nobody?!" Neville shouted. He couldn't tell if he had tears running down his face, or if it was only the excess rain pounding his skin so acidly.  
  
It was odd that he could sense things, even over a loud clapping of rain surrounding him. And he did sense something. Was someone watching him? Where? Where were they hiding?  
  
He whipped around and almost stumbled backwards at the person standing a good six inches away from him.  
  
Luna Lovegood stared at him, looking quite aghast at his sudden fright. Despite the crazed look Neville gave her, she grinned widely, in an almost unreal way up into his rain soaked face.  
  
Neville stared quite bewildered back at her.  
  
"Rain is wonderful," Luna shouted to him, even though he stood so close. She smiled dreamily and looked up into the sky. Neville wondered how she could see, with all the rain slamming down. He backed away.  
  
"Yeah," He mutter. She couldn't hear him. He didn't expect she would. He backed away to leave when Luna stepped into his path.  
  
"You know?" Luna said, spreading her arms out wide like she was an airplane, and flapped her arms. "Hue-winged Flussles love this kind of disturbing weather!"  
  
I'm talking to myself in public  
  
Dodging glances on the train  
  
And I know, I know they've all been talking about me  
  
I can hear them whisper  
  
And it makes me think there must be something wrong with me  
  
Out of all the hours thinking  
  
Somehow I've lost my mind  
  
Neville recalled staring back at her vividly. She only grinned all the wider at him. She seemed unaware of his startled looks. And more than that, he realized. She didn't care.  
  
Luna laughed gleefully and jumped into the air. Her feet came back down onto the ground, making a splat sound as her feet hit muddy earth. Mud sprayed Neville's already wet trousers. He stared down at his trousers and back at her, every time, giving her a more, and more insane look.  
  
Luna stared at his robes and laughed. "Oops, I did that?" She giggled, and she swatted the rain out of the air. "How silly of me! Look what I've done to your robes!"  
  
Neville blushed and opened his mouth. "It's all right Luna—"  
  
He stopped short. Luna had kneeled down to the ground, picked up a handful of mud in her hands, and slung it with all her strength at Neville's white Hogwarts shirt.  
  
He was sure his mouth was hanging open in shock as she laughed in a giddy way at him.  
  
"There," Luna said happily. "Now the rest of you doesn't look out of place!" She sounded as if she had bestowed a great honor upon him, making him look more normal.  
  
"Luna!" Neville gasped. "What— why—"  
  
Luna looked down at her own clothes and grinned at them. She then looked at Neville, and grinned so that all her teeth were showing. Her dirty blonde hair hung loosely around her face, wetted to her cheeks.  
  
"I look rather out of place," She said dreamily.  
  
Neville felt an odd feeling inside the pit of his stomach. It was a warm, almost laughable feeling. For the first time since the term had started up in the last three weeks, a smile slowly slipped its way across Neville Longbottoms face. Luna grinned at him again.  
  
Quick as lightening and before he even could register what he was doing, Neville had scooped up a handful of mud and slung it at Luna.  
  
It hit her on her button down white shirt, and some hit the side of her face. She didn't look surprised at all. She shrugged.  
  
"I suppose all wise old Iggly-Podis would have to agree to that motive."  
  
But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell  
  
I know right now you can't tell  
  
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see  
  
A different side of me  
  
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired  
  
I know right now you don't care  
  
But soon enough you're gonna think of me  
  
And how I used to be  
  
Neville laughed and picked up a handful of mud in his hand again. Throwing mud at Luna had created such an odd and wonderful feeling in him, he couldn't stop himself from wanting to do it again.  
  
Luna pretended to look alarmed. She backed away slowly, the rain, slightly washing off her mud splattered face. She sighed dreamily, tripping over rocks on her journey backwards.  
  
"Oh," She squealed loudly at him. "I think that the wise Iggly-Podis would not agree with more slinging!!"  
  
She took off running down the hills of the grounds. Neville's sudden growth spurts did him well in this case and he caught up to her carefully. He grabbed the hem of her gray skirt and tugged it. Luna squealed all the harder as she was tugged backwards.  
  
Neville laughed loudly as he pounded some mud into the back of her shirt. She shrieked loudly and pulled away, scooping some mud up on her way.  
  
"It's really a pity," She said, smiling in that far-away manner she always seemed to possess. "And to think that I just washed this shirt!"  
  
I've been talking in my sleep  
  
Pretty soon they'll come to get me  
  
Yeah, they're taking me away  
  
Luna slid down the hill, sliding and falling all over the place, with Neville trailing after her. She stopped suddenly at the bottom of the hill and Neville almost crashed into her.  
  
"You know?" Luna said in a more serious tone than Neville had ever heard her use. "Girl classmates of mine always laugh at me for my fasination with rain, but you know what I say? ard her use. "t crashed into her me for my fascination of rain. But you know what I think? It's their loss!"  
  
Neville frowned, and whipped his cheek, smearing some mud across his face. "Why is that?" He heard himself asking.  
  
"They aren't out here with Hue-winged Flussles and a wet Seventh year Gryffindor!"  
  
Neville's eyebrows shot up as far as possible. Luna let out a shrill laugh and took off running back up the hill. She scooped mud up and threw it at him as she ran, her clothes now totally soaked.  
  
For once, Neville grinned.  
  
But I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell  
  
I know right now you can't tell  
  
But stay awhile and maybe then you'll see  
  
A different side of me  
  
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little impaired  
  
I know right now you don't care  
  
But soon enough you're gonna think of me  
  
And how I used to be  
  
As she neared the top of the hill again, she fell down on the ground. Neville rushed over to her, alarm clearly written on his face again. He kneeled down next to her and shook her. That's when he realized she was shaking with her laughter.  
  
He sniffed and smacked her on the arm. For a flicker of a moment, Neville's brain froze. This wasn't him. This wasn't how he acted; let alone with a girl, let alone with Luna Lovegood.  
  
Why was he suddenly showing a side of himself that he never showed anyone, not even himself?  
  
Luna picked herself off the ground and whipped her rain and mud drenched clothes with her elbows. Her arms quickly became covered in a thick, brown goo. She grinned at him again.  
  
She began walking back up to the Castle with him, her head turned up to meet the velvet sky. It was almost dark outside. She opened her mouth to catch some rain on her tongue. They walked most of the way in silence before Luna slowed slightly.  
  
"There's nothing wrong with a person being a nobody," She said cheerfully. Neville stared at her for a few moments. Her smile never faltered, but he knew she was saying something to him. Maybe it was important; maybe he'd remember it forever.  
  
He couldn't help feeling that this girl, odd as she was, was trying to tell him something. His heart fluttered briefly, before she started walking again. She linked her muddy arm around his, as if they were intimate, and they weren't. She grinned cheerfully and smiled dreamily at him.  
  
Neville stared at their arms, and then back to Luna's face. He said nothing and he didn't pull his arms away from her. Maybe this was someone he could talk to... maybe she would listen to him...maybe...  
  
Luna gave Neville's arm a squeeze. "You know?" She said, walking up to the looming tower that was Hogwarts School. "Did I tell you what perfect weather this is for the Hue-winged Flussles?"  
  
Yeah, how I used to be  
  
How I used to be  
  
Well, I'm just a little unwell  
  
How I used to be  
  
How I used to be  
  
I'm just a little unwell 


End file.
